Dear Ms Somerville

 

Thank you for your email dated 23 April 2019; we have treated this as a Freedom of Information request.

 

You have asked for the following information; please see Barnet Homes’ response below in red:

 

  1. The total number of young people (aged up to 21) who have left the care of the Council and were placed in “unregulated” accommodation in 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19;
  2. The total amount paid by the council to providers of unregulated accommodation, broken down to in and out of Barnet, for care leavers in the 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years;
  3. The total number of providers of unregulated accommodation that received payments from the Council in 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 respectively, and the names of the five providers that received the most from the Council in each of these periods.
  4. The number of complaints received by the council in relation to care leavers’ unregulated accommodation in these periods.

 

With regards to questions 1 and 2, Barnet Council (Children Service – Onwards and Upwards Team) is best placed to respond. We assume that ‘unregulated’ accommodation refers, but not exclusively, to temporary accommodation (TA). This means that there would be ex-care leavers who are placed in other types of settings, which only the Children Service would be privy to. They also would have the data on the expenditure as we recharge the cost of any TA we provide for their clients (i.e. those who are ineligible for housing assistance). We only record and track placements for those that are ineligible for housing assistance and care leavers who are eligible for housing assistance are also, sometimes, placed in TA, but these were not recharged to the Council and therefore not tracked separately.

 

We are able to provide only a partial response to the Q3 – see below the details of 5 providers who supply us with accommodation for care leavers (those not eligible for housing assistance).

 

In reply to Q3:

 

Years 2016 – 2017 2017 – 2018 2018 – 2019
Total No of Providers 11 13 14

 

Five providers with the most bookings

 
Oliver Landon
Woodhouse Estates
Stef And Philips
District Homes
London Rentals

 

With regards to Q4, we do not track the complaints arising from TA for care leavers separately, therefore unable to respond. Providers of accommodation for care leavers also supply us with accommodation for other clients and the invoices from the TA providers do not make between accommodation provided for carer leavers and those who are not-care leavers.

 

Advice and assistance

 

As, having searched our records some the information you have requested is not held by The Barnet Group, it may be more appropriate for Barnet Council to provide some of the information in this case, as it is possible they may hold some or all of the information you require as I have indicated above.  

 

Barnet Council can be contacted at:

 

Barnet Council

Information Management Team (IMT), Building 2 North London Business Park

Oakleigh Road South, New Southgate, London N11 1NP

 

Email: foi@barnet.gov.uk

 

Your rights

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you can request a review by emailing Talk2Us@barnethomes.org and marking it as an appeal for the attention of the Data Controller.

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF (telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45; website: www.ico.gov.uk).

There is no charge for making an appeal.

Kind regards

 

Carly Williamson                         

Complaints and Information Manager

020 8359 6379

 

The Barnet Group

(Incorporating Barnet Homes, Your Choice (Barnet), Opendoor Homes, TBG Flex, and Bumblebee)

Barnet House | 1255 High Road | Whetstone | London | N20 0EJ